


Tomorrowland

by Authorship



Series: I hope you'll reach those places [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Young dad and smol son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:28:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28287750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Authorship/pseuds/Authorship
Summary: The adventures of Yamanaka 'I-don't-know-how-to-teach' Inoichi and his very smol sunshine sonInoichi's only had Shisui for five minutes but if anything ever happened to him he'd destroy the continent before single-handedly capturing Orochimaru to bring his son back himself“Like warm sunlightMay those small doses of happiness overflowLike falling raindrops”- C. Shim
Relationships: Uchiha Shisui & Yamanaka Inoichi
Series: I hope you'll reach those places [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031988
Comments: 39
Kudos: 205





	1. Warm sunlight (falling raindrops)

Shisui wasn't quite sure of what to think of Yamanaka-sensei. He was clean and polite and he never raised his voice but… he also looked at him weirdly.

Shisui had dealt with people who looked at him weirdly before. He’d hoped his new sensei would be… different but, the Genin supposed with an imperceptible sigh, he shouldn’t exactly have expected anything else. He’d always stuck out for the wrong reasons. 

They were two weeks in the field, dashing between branches at Jounin speed because if there was something Shisui could do, it was keeping up a good pace. Their B Rank, a protection detail in River Country, was so much more boring than running Compound errands; Shisui hadn’t even known that was  _ possible _ . The caravan had stopped for the night and they were all thoroughly soaked to the bone. 

Shisui, the youngest present by far (not including the small baby swaddled against its mother’s chest), felt and looked like a sewer rat.

He smelled like one too.

His usually fastidious sensei was just a few meters ahead, equally drenched with his blonde hair darkened to a dull brown rope that slopped wetly against his back with every sway. They were doing a perimeter run of the campsite before setting in for guard duty. As the Genin in this situation, Shisui had, by the Yamanaka’s own rules, dibs on the first watch. He wasn’t sure why but figured the man in question didn’t trust Shisui to stay awake in the wee hours.

(Inoichi, taking one look at the far-too-small Genin, had immediately proclaimed that it was a rule - that he’d just made up - for children to go first in everything except in formation. Shisui, who had always run lead as the fastest, had complained. Inoichi, already exhausted by the task the Sandaime had twisted his arm into, told him not to question his superiors and privately wondered how to get it through the brat’s thick skull that children needed a full night’s sleep for critical neurodevelopment.)

Their perimeter run came to a natural conclusion as the Yamanaka led them in a tightening curve towards where the bonfire was being built, big enough so that the continuous rain couldn’t snuff it out. Shisui, who had doubted they’d be able to find any wood this side of Wind that wasn’t sodden half to mush, admitted to being impressed. The light would surely draw the attention of bandits but they were all cold and miserable. And that was what Inoichi and Shisui had been hired for, after all.

Some people - read: everyone - might have said that a B Rank was too steep an ask of a Jounin-Genin duo team that had been working together for barely a month. However, Shisui was a supposed-genius - the term always drawing a scoff and roll of his eyes because he just  _ wasn’t _ \- and Inoichi was not the kind of person to sit through watching a preteen try and fail to weed a civilian’s garden for eight hours a day. It just  _ wasn’t _ going to happen. As for the C Ranks, there were plenty of Genin Teams out there to dominate that category. So, Inoichi had had no choice but to punch a little higher.

He may have bribed the desk Chuunin. There might have been KI. 

“Yamanaka-sensei-” Inoichi’s eyes closed reflexively at the stubborn usage of his Clan name. The kid had tried to call him ‘-sama’ at the start but what had he expected from someone raised to address his closest relatives with the most formal titles? “-shall I set up our packs in a viewing tree?” Shisui, curls plastered to his forehead and dripping into wide, dark eyes, turned to point a small finger at a large conifer. “I think this one has the best vantage point and if I stick to the highest bough with chakra, I should be able to see anyone approaching!”

Inoichi cleared his throat roughly and ignored the way his charge stiffened unsurely when he rested a hand on his thin shoulder. “Maybe dry off first? You don’t want to catch pneumonia.”

As if Kami was laughing at him, Shisui accepted Inoichi’s words and ran in precisely the wrong direction with them. “Of course,” he ducked his head as though chastened. “I wouldn’t be so unprofessional-”

_ Oh, for-! _

Inoichi threw caution to the wind and did what he’d been itching to do since approximately thirty seconds after meeting his student. He knelt down, staunchly ignoring the wet squelch of mud beneath his knees and seeping through his pants, and looped his arm around the nine-year-old’s shoulders.

Shisui’s eyes were wide in his face, ink-black reflecting the pop and crackle of the fire nearby. In the dark and the rain, he looked like an urchin. He didn’t seem to know what to do with Inoichi’s familiarity and proximity and the blonde’s heart lurched with sober understanding.  _ Orphan _ . Having graduated early - ergo, emancipated early - Shisui had half-raised himself in his parent’s empty house. Whatever scraps of affection he’d been given by his relatives obviously hadn’t had as strong an influence as the professional perfectionism hammered into his demeanour. Uchiha Mikoto might have been a good shinobi but she was just one woman with young children of her own; it was common knowledge that she was all but guided by her husband.

Shisui’s mouth tugged downwards, dimples reemerging in his round cheeks, and those eyes scanned Inoichi from knee to scalp in unconcealed confusion. “Are you hurt, sensei?”

The blonde nearly laughed, to think that Shisui thought he was kneeling because of an unaddressed injury. “Shisui-kun, I don’t want you getting sick because I’m your sensei; I’m supposed to look after you.” He paused, tugging the Genin a little closer when he felt the raised lumps of goosebumps along his exposed arms. “I care about you.”

Shisui’s paler skin tone damn-near exploded with the force of his blush. His eyes popped wide, mouth parting in genuine surprise and Inoichi smiled, even if part of him wondered what Shisui had actually thought he was doing all these weeks asking about his favourite foods and talking him through various jutsu. Probably assumed that Inoichi was sizing him up as a weapon like his Clan had. Shisui, Mangekyou and all, was more commodity than human to those  _ vultures _ . 

He seemed incapable of a reply and Inoichi took pity on him, rising to his feet but using his arms to swing the small boy up onto his hip. Unused to holding children, he blinked at how light he was. Was that  _ normal _ ? He’d have to find a book that talked about it when they next came across a bookshop or library. 

Shisui squawked like a plucked chicken, fisting one hand in his red vest at his shoulder and the other gripping Inoichi’s soaked sweater front. “Wha- _ sensei _ ! I can walk!”

“You’re freezing!” Inoichi pinched his side, frowning internally at how thin his shirt was. He should have forced the Genin into wearing his sweater too.

Shisui’s laughter rang out, sudden as if he’d surprised himself with it. “I’m fire-natured, I can handle it!”

“That won’t protect your blue toes, pyro-chan-”

  
  
  



	2. Good People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It is good people who make good places."  
>  \- Anna Sewell
> 
> AKA
> 
> Meeting The Girlfriend (Meeting The Son)

It was a bright, clear day - perfect for training and even more perfect for  _ running  _ \- and yet Shisui found himself doing none of those things. 

It was nearly noon, his morning dominated by running paperwork to and from his Uncle's office at the house and his office at the Station. There were a few drawbacks to being so nimble.

But, now, he was free, having been ushered out the door by Mikoto-oba-sama, and he wasted no time in escaping the Compound. 

After a quick stop-off at his parent's house, Shisui found himself trotting down the street to where sensei had asked him to meet for lunch.

Shisui wasn't really sure why they were doing this but, if there was one thing he'd learned about Yama- _ Inoichi-sensei,  _ was that he wasn't a very typical person.

(Kazumi-sensei had been nice enough, even if he'd never believed him when Shisui said he already knew something until he'd proven it a few times, so it wasn't like he didn't know how a Genin sensei was  _ supposed _ to behave.

It's just that… Inoichi-sensei didn't fit that category  _ either. _ )

The blonde always did stuff for him, like making sure he did cool-down stretches and making sure he understood mission perimeters. He ruffled his hair - like Shisui didn't fight the curls enough already - and replaced his training kunai when he snapped the handles. He bought Shisui's meals, which… well, Shisui had his own money. He wasn't rich like Inoichi-sensei was, as Clan Head  _ and _ Head of T&I, but he had sat down with Mikoto-oba and he'd worked out an allowance for himself.

But the point was that Inoichi-sensei didn't seem to  _ care  _ that Shisui didn't need the loan.

(Shisui made a note of how much he owed every time. He'd pay the man back… somehow.)

So, when Inoichi-sensei had told Shisui to meet him at an Akimichi restaurant on a Sunday, he'd gone armed with his coin-purse just  _ in case _ .

He hadn't expected to see someone else there, however.

Inoichi-sensei was easy to spot, tall and blonde and  _ obviously  _ a shinobi. He wasn't in his usual clothes, a casual jumper in place of his shirt and jacket, and Shisui suddenly felt uncomfortable with the weight of his kunai pouch strapped to one thigh. He hadn't realised… 

Small lips tugged downwards. Mikoto-oba was going to give him another lesson on social niceties, wasn't she?

The other figure was considerably more  _ civilian.  _ Smallish with a short, bouncy bob of brown hair, the unknown woman smiled brightly up at his sensei. The blonde must've said something funny because she laughed, reaching up on tiptoes to-

_ Oh _ .

Shisui blushed scarlet.

Not just anyone. His sensei's  _ girlfriend. _

Oh Kami, Oba-sama was going to  _ frown  _ at him.

Quick as a flash, the nine-year-old darted back around the corner, half of his attention devoted to slipping through the press of pedestrian shoppers. His hand shoved into his pocket, Shisui fumbled for some money.

A vendor caught his eye and he made a dash for it.

"Morning!" He blurted when he was still a few meters away, blushing even redder at the startled look the old woman cast him with. He had very little time before he was deemed late. "What-err- what should I get for my sensei's girlfriend?"

Five minutes later, token in hand and his weapons pouch attached to his waist under the fall of his Uchiha-style shirt - that was less obvious, right? - Shisui turned the corner once more.

  
  


"Shisui-kun," Inoichi-sensei greeted him, catching sight of his student as the small figure wove between the crowds and scampered over. "Right on time," he smiled approvingly before turning to the pretty brunette beside him. "I'd like you to meet Sora-chan."

Tucked into his side, Sora squeezed Inoichi's waist in a mixture of nerves and excitement.

("I have a student," he told her on their first date, sipping coffee in the back of a cafe. "It's… just the two of us."

Sora, civilian and blissfully ignorant of why those circumstances were  _ abnormal,  _ visibly lit up. Her teeth were brilliant against the glow of her sun-kissed skin and the earthy smattering of her freckles. Inoichi's stomach flipped. "How old are they?"

Gaze dipping to his coffee, Inoichi tried to quell his nerves. "He's nine and an orphan, although his Aunt lives close by. I'm trying to… look after him."

Despite his studies into psychology, the blonde felt… out of his depth. Shisui was a staggeringly bright child but he'd never  _ been  _ a child. Shinobi upbringings weren't the softest, there was no hiding that, but the academy age normally allowed for some kind of lightness and  _ childishness  _ for the first decade of life.

Shisui, who graduated at six, had not had any of that.

Inoichi was an only child and had lost both of his own parents relatively recently. He had never anticipated, when the Sandaime had called him to his office and nearly begged him to make sure the village's second Mangekyou wouldn't self-destruct before puberty, that he'd look at the kid and-

Well.

It wasn't a smart thing to bring up on a first date. But, then again, he didn't want to spring the situation on her further down the line.

Sora's expression had gentled, one small hand slowly stirring a teaspoon through the foam of her own coffee. "That's good of you. So… you're basically a single parent?"

The humour in her voice and the faint curl to her lips soothed Inoichi's own worries.

The age gap between himself and Shisui was far too small for something like that, feasibly. But-

"Yeah," Inoichi smiled. "Something like that.")

Sora, when she'd voiced the idea of meeting Shisui after their fifth successful date, had made no secret of the fact that she was nervous. 

That was okay.  _ Inoichi _ was nervous too.

Up until Shisui - ebony curls glowing in the noonday sun and a shy smile carving dimples into his round cheeks - darted onto the pavement with a huge bouquet of pink camellias. His dark eyes flickered towards the blonde for the briefest second. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sora-sama," he bowed.

' _ -sama'? _

Sora beamed, delighted.

Inoichi, skin flushing a violent red, strangled a noise in the back of his throat. Oh  _ Kami _ .

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N-
> 
> Camellia: I found a site that said these meant something along the lines of perfect beauty and superiority. Basically, Shisui is saying that his first impression of her is great!
> 
> Sora, to herself: Okay so he has a kid…. This is fine, just be cool and-  
> Shisui: I brought you flowers! *the flowers mean beauty and superiority* *dimpled smile*  
> Sora:....call me mum
> 
> Sora and Inoichi met when Inoichi came up with the idea to use gardening as a form of therapy when the war started again. Sora is the daughter of Hill Country merchants and shisui unknowingly bought the camellias from her mother lmao
> 
> Shisui: *helps around the house*  
> Sora: Ah, Shisui-kun, you really are a gift! It's no wonder I married Inoichi  
> Shisui: ????  
> Sora: well you were obviously a package deal-  
> Inoichi: Soraaaaaaaa  
> Ino: *cackling*

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a one-shot, drabble, sporadically updated collection of stories that just.... Come as they please
> 
> Please comment any scenarios you'd like and I'll think about complying haha 
> 
> Ta!
> 
> A/N- Merry Christmas! Even if you don’t celebrate the holiday (if you celebrate other traditions, I wish you well!!) it’s still nice to receive a present in the spirit of it all! So, here is your present. I’m posting it on Christmas Eve as I doubt most of you will be free to enjoy it on the 25th etc so I thought I’d get in early. 
> 
> 2020 has been… well, dogshit. Some people have managed alright, avoided the economic fuckery and the actual illness of a pandemic and the year has STILL sucked. For everyone who has suffered in some way, I’m genuinely so sorry for that and I hope you know that you are SEEN and what you feel is VALID. I know I’m just some fic author but I hope this little ficlet can give you some comfort, maybe even draw a smile. For me, personally, 2020 was crap but it was also the year I finally got the opportunity and summed up the guts to start writing this fic. Shisui, Inoichi and the gang have brought me such comfort over the months. I had hiccups and breaks but I’ve never felt such accomplishment like I have for this fic. You, the readers, have all been incredible. I cannot believe the response I’ve had for this AU and I’ve laughed over and treasured every comment, bookmarker’s tag and Tumblr reblog. Thank you for indulging my work and for sticking along for the ride (even if the journey is far from over!). 
> 
> Much love,  
> Torship 
> 
> I know you want the skits lmao:
> 
> Shisui: why the heck do I have to go first? I’m super capable of staying awake! I’m a professional!  
> Inoichi, staring at the nine-year-old not reaching his chest: *quotes directly from a parenting book* CHILDREN have BEDTIMES
> 
> *Ten years later*  
> Ino: why the heck do I have to go to bed at eight? I KNOW you and Kaa-san stay up WAY later!  
> Inoichi, so severely triggered: :’0  
> Shisui, from the other room: CHILDREN have BEDTIMES
> 
> The entire caravan when Inoichi 'Three Different Hair Conditioners' Yamanaka and a very small, violent child with dimples arrive to protect them: um
> 
> Shisui, a smol bean: I won't be unprofessional and get ill  
> Inoichi, 22 and a single pringle: *montage of him kneeling in the mud, arms stretched towards the sky, facedown in the foliage, catching water in his hands, crying softly* IM TRYING TO PARENT YOU
> 
> Inoichi, holding shisui on his hip like he's the samurai and shisui is the white cat in that meme but the rain and cold is the enemy lol


End file.
